Organization Learning in Non-writing Communities

The literature on organization learning does not fully recognize the difference between learning that is primarily mediated by written documents and protocols and learning that occurs on the basis of verbal and symbolic interaction. This article presents a study of construction project workers and emphasizes that learning is emerging in work-life situations wherein individuals are sharing know-how and experiences through embodied interactions and the practical use of tools and machinery. Co-workers in construction projects thus make use of verbal and symbolic forms of communication in their processes of learning, rather than various forms of decoded and written forms and computer-mediated learning. The article suggests that the learning organization literature should pay more attention to communities of practice that rely on verbal interaction rather than written documentation.